Organizing First Responder Resources

Available at no charge to qualified first-responder agencies, CIRDRA uses an open-source design with a tiered hierarchy in order to help State and local law enforcement and emergency management departments organize their resources. Once an agency begins using CIRDRA to inventory its own assets, it can also enter into cooperative agreements with other neighboring jurisdictions to pool and share information and expedite the resource-sharing needed to respond to many critical incidents. CIRDRA allows agencies to comply with National Incident Management System requirements by cataloging all of their resources, including equipment, communications capabilities, personnel volunteers, special teams, supplies, and services. The open source software runs on a basic PC or laptop, using either the Windows Server or the Windows XP operating systems. It uses a Web-served structured query language database with a simple, user-friendly appearance. In CIRDRA’s next phase, it hopes to obtain funding for the integration of interactive GIS (geographic information system) mapping of resources, the ability to patch communications systems together via integrated Web services, and event logging.